Surface-mounted hat and coat rack



United States Patent f 3,352,429 SURFACE-MOUNTED HAT AND COAT RACK Raymond A. Magnuson, Hinsdale, Ill., assignor to Vogel- Peterson Co., Elmhurst, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 24, 1965, Ser. No. 504,818

\ 2 Claims. (Cl. 211113) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hat and coat rack having two laterally spaced transversely extending hat supporting knobs and a pair of vertically spaced transversely extending sloping hooks mounted between them. The hook-ends are upwardly turned and slotted to retain hanger stems, and the top hook extends past the lower hook to keep garments spaced apart.

The present invention relates generally to hat and coat racks which are intended for mounting on a vertical surface such as a wall, and more particularly to a novel relationship between a hat and coat rack and complemental hangers.

Wherever people are expected to come it is usually necessary to provide means for accommodating their coats and hats in such a way as to prevent them from being crushed or otherwise misshaped. Coats and similar outer garments are desirably received on hangers inserted within their shoulder portions so that they can hang in wrinklefree position. Numerous forms of devices and schemes to accomplish these ends have been proposed and many are presently available that do so successfully. These include wall-mounted shelving and free-standing racks with hooks and hanger rails.

When garment hangers are provided there are additional and very practical problems that attend. Nonetheleast of these flow from the form of the hanger itself. Common hook-stemmed wire hangers, though relatively inexpensive, provide inadequate support, are unattractive, are easily bent, and are capable of but relatively short service. Hangers with wood or simulated wood bodies, through more expensive, can fairly be said to obviate those deficiencies, but they are subject to yet another problem pilferage. This is especially true if the hangers are decoratively fashioned or are constructed principally of highquality wood. To minimize pilferage various constructions and arrangements have been tried. Hangers have been made captive, but this is inconvenient and such installations in some locations might be considered accusing or even insulting to patrons. Perhaps the most practical concept to relieve the pilferage problem is to so form the hanger stem that it can be received only in supporting receptacles peculiarly adapted for that purpose and cannot be hung on the usual home closet hanger rod or garment hook. Such hangers comprise bodies of various forms and materials with stems extending therefrom and terminating at their upper ends in small Y-shaped, ballshaped or T-shaped tops.

But these stem-topped forms give rise to yet another problem: They have in the past become accidentally dislodged quite easily from non-captive supporting receptacles so as to fall to the floor, dropping a garment supported thereon. Actually they are more easily dislodged when empty, thus annoyingly requiring a user who often already has his coat in hand, to retrieve the fallen hanger from the floor before he can put in to use.

A further problem arises from the fact that there are numerous places where multiple garment hanging devices are a necessity but space is at a premium. Among these places are business and professional ofiices, fitting rooms, and the like. While in such places the number of hats and 3,352,429 Patented Nov. 14, 1967 coats to be accommodated at any one time is usually quite small, nevertheless the problem of space for that purpose is magnified and the other objections noted above are present also. Further, it is particularly desirable that devices of this type for small oflices and the like, because of their relative intimacy, not only be utilitarian, but also be decorative in order to enhance their attractiveness and hospitable atmosphere.

Accordingly it is an object of the present invention to provide a hat and coat rack which finds particular though by no means exclusive utility in locations where space is at a premium and which while presenting a pleasing appearance can nevertheless receive and hold hats and garment hangers for coats and similar articles of apparel in spaced wrinkle-free condition.

A related object is to provide such a rack for use with hangers which are equipped with T-shaped or similarly formed outer ends with minimum danger of falling of the hangers, yet which facilitates their intentional disengagement for receiving or removing a garment.

It is a further object to provide such a rack and hanger in which hangers can be retained in alternative storage position or in use position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description and upon reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective of a hat and coat rack, together with a garment hanger, embodying the features of the present invention as installed on a wall;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the rack of FIGURE 1, and also showing in dotted lines a hanger turned sideways in the upper hook;

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section taken substantially on the line 33 in FIG. 1 showing the lower hook with a hanger therein;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation of the hat and coat rack of the preceding figures and showing hangers in place on the hooks;

FIG. 5 is a central vertical section taken substantially along the line 55 in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary section taken substantially along the line 6-6 in FIG. 1.

While the invention will be described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it will be understood that it is not intended to limit the invention to the specific form described. On the contrary, it is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there shown is a hat and coat rack, generally indicated at 10, embodying the features of the present invention. The illustrative rack includes a mounting plate 12 to which are secured a hanger bracket 14 and a pair of bat knobs 16. To enhance the attractiveness as well as the utility of the rack the plate 12 is preferably fashioned of a durable material such that in addition to its supporting function it provides a pleasing appearance in conjunction with the bracket and knobs and thus may be of high grade wood such, for example, as walnut, mahogany, ebony, appropriately finished. The rack 10 is intended to be mounted in an elevated position upon a vertical supporting surface, and thus for illustrative purposes it is shown as being mounted upon a wall 18 which is fragmentarily depicted in the drawings.

Preferably the hat knobs 16 are secured to the plate 12 adjacent the upper corners of the plate in spaced relation to each other. Each of the knobs has a frusto-conical body 16a terminating at its outer end in an enlarged ellipsoidal head 16b. While the knobs are primarily in tended to support hats, it is apparent that a coat or other garment can simply be hung thereon without danger of being pierced or torn because of the smoothly rounded form of theheads 16b. Similarly the knobs can be used to receive conventional garment hangers (not shown) with their stems hooked over the bodies 16a of the knobs, rearwardly of the heads 16b. The outer taper of the knob bodies 16a causes such hangers to slide toward the heads 16b thereby spacinga garment so supported thereon away from the wall 18 upon which the rack is mounted.

For securing the hat knob 16 in place upon the mounting plate 12 each is provided with a threaded, rearwardlyopening recess 16c, which extends longitudinally into it from its rear surface, for the reception of a suitable fastener 17' which. is shown in FIG. 6 in the form of a machine screw having a fiat head countersunk into the rear surface of the plate 12. Additionally, each knob 16 is equipped with a locating pin 16d projecting rearwardly therefrom into complemental hole 12a in the plate 12 was to prevent rotation of the knob with respect to the plate and thereby prevent loosening or removal of the knob without unscrewing the fastener 17.

The hanger bracket 14 includes a shank 20 and two hooks 22 and 24 which are rigid with and project outwardly from the shank. The shank 20 is vertically elongated and is secured to the mounting plate 12 immediate its ends and centrally between the hat knobs 16. To aid in sustaining the weight of garments that [might be hung on the bracket 14, the upper end of the shank 20 is provided with, a rearward extension 26 which overlies and rests upon the juxtaposed portion of the upper horizontal edge of the mounting plate 12 of the rack 10.

The hooks 22 and 24 of the hanger bracket 14 are disposed adjacent the lower edge of the plate 12 to provide adequate space for the accommodation of hats placed upon the knobs 16. As can best be seen in FIGS. 4 and of the drawings the bottom surface of the lowermost hook 22 is substantially coplanar with the corresponding surface of the mounting plate 12. The hook 24 is disposed in upwardly spaced relation to the hook 22 and is of a sufiicient length so that its outer end is disposed substantially farther out from the shank than the corresponding portion of the lower hook. Thus there is insured the provision and maintenance of adequate space for receiving a hat, and at the same time the reception upon and removal from the bracket 14 of a garment hanger from either or both of the hooks 22 and 24 is facilitated.

As hereinbefore noted it is advantageous to utilize garment hangers which are equipped with T-shaped, Y- shaped, or similarly formed stems. For purposes of illustration T-topped hangers 27 are shown. Each comprises a body 28 equipped with an upwardly projecting stem 29*. The latter has a short cross-head 29a rigid with its outer end and extending longitudinally with respect to the hanger body 28. 'Desirably the body 28 is formed of wood or other material like that of the mounting plate 12.

While it is obvious that the hooks 22 and 24 of the hanger bracket 14 can be used for the directed hanging of garments thereon, in accordance with one of the principal features of the present invention the hooks are especially formed to receive and retain garment hangers such as the T-topped type 28, 29, 29a in both storage position and in use position with minimum danger of their becoming accidentally dislodged. To this end the outer ends of each of the hooks 22 and 24 are bifurcated to accept the stems 29 of the garment hangers 27. Thus the hooks are provided with vertical slots 32 and 34, respectively, which extend longitudinally inward from their free ends. The slots 32 and 34 are of a width slightly greater than the cross-sectional dimension of the hanger stems 29, but the slot width is substantially less than the length of the stem cross-heads 29a. Thus the undersides of the crossheads 29a rest upon the top surfaces 22a and 24a of the hooks 22 and 24 when their stems 29 are received within the hook slots '32 and 34. To limit outward movement of the hangers along their supporting hooks the outer ends of the hooks are fashioned to extend upward and rearward with respect to their upper surfaces thereby defining horizontally grooved tips 36 and 38, respectively.

So that supported garments will automatically tend to hang in spaced relation to the wall 18 or other surface upon which the rack 10 is mounted, the upwardly facing top surfaces 22a and 24a of the hooks are sloped outwardly and downwardly away from the shank 20 of the hanger bracket 14. This sloping is indicated inFIG. 5 by the angles A and A The size of the angles A and A though appreciable, is not critical. Thus it is apparent that the weight of hangers 27, with or without ganments thereon, will cause their supporting cross-heads 29a to slide outwardly along the respective upper surfaces 22a and 24a of the hooks 22 and 24, respectively, toward engagement with the hook tips 36 and 38 where they rest snugly. Because of the symmetrical construction of the hangers 27 with respect to their stems 29 their rest positions are substantially parallel with the mounting plate 12 as shown in full lines in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4.

When desired, the hangers 27 can be readily removed from engagement with the hooks 22 and 24 by simply lifting them up sufficiently high so that their cross-heads 29a can clear the hook tips 36 and 38, and then moving them forwardly to free their stems 29 from the hook slots 32 and 34. 7

Yet another feature of the present invention lies in the construction and arrangement whereby the danger of ac,- cidental dislodgement of the hangers 27 from the hooks 22 and 24 is minimized. To this end particular reference is made to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4 of the drawings. Therein, and as previously noted, it will be seen that the hanger cross.- heads 29a normally rest snugly against the tips 36 and 38 of the hooks 22 and 24 with the'rearwardly turned hook tips partially embracing the crossheads 29a on opposite sides of the hanger stems 29. Thus, both upward movement and rotative movement of the hangers 27 with respect to the hooks, about an axis as defined by the hanger stems 29, is impaired. However, it is apparent that, from FIGS. 2 and 3, if the hangers could be'turned so that their cross-heads 29a would be brought into alinement with the hook slots 32 and 34, then the'crossheads could pass through the slots and the hangers fall from the hooks 22 and 24. To prevent this from happening the length of the hooks 22 and 24 together with the thickness of the mounting plate 12are correlated so that the hook tips 36 and 38 are located in spaced relation to the wall 18 or other supporting surface upon which the rack 1% is mounted so that the angle through which the hangers can rotate is relatively small. In other words, rotation of the hangers about an axis as defined by their supporting stems is limited by engagement of the hangers with the supporting wall surface 18. With this angle small, and its size is not critical so long as it is an acute angle, the hanger cross-heads 29a are prevented by the bumping of the hanger tips against the supporting wall from becoming alined with the hook slots 32 and 34 so that they cannot slip into and through the slots.

' Thus the likelihood of accidental separation of the hangers from engagement with the hooks is minimized.

Another constructional feature toward this end, and at the same time to provide a more neat appearance of the instant rack and its hangers when not in use, lies in the provision for storage of the hangers on the lower hook 22 of the hanger bracket 14. Thus upon reference to FIG. 4 it will be seen the lower hook is extended outward and its slot 32 is extended inwardly sufficiently far to receive at least two hangers 27. Further, the inner end of the slot 32 is so located with respect to the rear surface of the mounting plate 10 that the distance there'between is slightly greater than one-half the transverse thickness of the hanger body 28. As a result when two hangers 27 are placed upon the lower hook 22, the rearmost one of them normally hangs in a position which is spaced slightly outward from the vertical supporting surface 18. It is also apparent that this provision for the storage of the garment hangers on the lower and shorter one of the hooks permits freeing of the upper hook thereof, thereby further lessening danger of accidental hanger dislodgement.

I claim as my invention:

1. A hat and coat rack intended primarily for support upon a vertical surface such as a wall and for receiving garment hangers having T-topped or Y-topped stems, said rack comprising in combination (a) a mounting plate adapted to be secured to the vertical surface, and

(b) a hanger bracket secured to said plate intermediate its ends, said bracket having 1) a hook rigid therewith located adjacent the lower edge of said plate and projecting outwardly from said plate,

(A) said hook having a bifurcated outer end portion terminating in an upwardly directed tip and defining a vertical slot for receiving the stern of a garment hanger with the hanger stem cross-head resting upon the upper surface of the hook and engageable with said tip to limit movement of the hanger with respect to the hook, and

(B) the length of said hook together with the thickness of said plate locating said hook tip for limiting to an acute angle the maximum rotational movement, until it engages the vertical supporting surface, of a hanger about an axis defined by its stem when the latter is received in said slide.

2. In a hat and coat rack intended primarily for support upon a vertical surface such as a wall and for receiving garment hangers having supporting stems terminating in a cross-head, said rack having a mounting plate adapted to be secured to the vertical surface, the improvement comprising the combination of (a) a bracket (I) mounted intermediate the ends of said plate,

and

(2) having an upwardly extending shank, and

(b) a pair of hooks,

(1) supported on said shank in vertically spaced relation,

(2) projecting outwardly from said shank, with the upper one of said pair of hooks having a length greater than that of the lower one, and

(3) each having a bifurcated outer end portion terminating in an outer upturned tip and defining a slot for receiving the stern of a hanger with the hanger stem cross-head resting upon the upwardly facing surface of the hook, said upper surface of each of said hooks sloping outward and downward for directing a hanger supported thereon toward engagement with said tip so that hangers supported on the respective hooks are not only spaced outwardly from a supporting surface but are also spaced outwardly with respect to each other and in vertically offset relation to each other.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 60,640 3/1922 Batts 211-87 X 915,494 3/1909 Smith 248301 X 1,301,607 4/1919 Rothery 21186 X 1,961,935 6/1924 Knapp 248-304 X 2,582,650 1/1952 Patton 211-86 X 3,186,557 6/1965 Wise 211-86 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,583 1911 Great Britain. 561,706 4/ 1957 Italy.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner. 

1. A HAT AND COAT RACK INTENDED PRIMARILY FOR SUPPORT UPON A VERTICAL SURFACE SUCH AS A WALL AND FOR RECEIVING GARMENT HANGERS HAVING T-TOPPED OR Y-TOPPED STEMS, SAID RACK COMPRISING IN COMBINATION (A) A MOUNTING PLATE ADAPTED TO BE SECURED TO THE VERTICAL SURFACE, AND (B) A HANGER BRACKET SECURED TO SAID PLATE INTERMEDIATE ITS ENDS, SAID BRACKET HAVING (1) A HOOK RIGID THEREWITH LOCATED ADJACENT THE LOWER EDGE OF SAID PLATE AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY FROM SAID PLATE, (A) SAID HOOK HAVING A BIFURCATED OUTER END PORTION TERMINATING IN AN UPWARDLY DIRECTED TIP AND DEFINING A VERTICAL SLOT FOR RECEIVING THE STEM OF A GARMENT HANGER WITH THE HANGER STEM CROSS-HEAD RESTING UPON THE UPPER SURFACE OF THE HOOK AND ENGAGEABLE WITH SAID TIP TO LIMIT MOVEMENT OF THE HANGER WITH RESPECT TO THE HOOK, AND (B) THE LENGTH OF SAID HOOK TOGETHER WITH THE THICKNESS OF SAID PLATE LOCATING SAID HOOK TIP FOR LIMITING TO AN ACUTE ANGLE THE MAXIMUM ROTATIONAL MOVEMENT, UNTIL IT ENGAGES THE VERTICAL SUPPORTING SURFACE, OF A HANGER ABOUT AN AXIS DEFINED BY ITS STEM WHEN THE LATTER IS RECEIVED IN SAID SLIDE. 